


mnemonic

by rikotan



Category: Hey! Say! JUMP
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Angst, M/M, Yokai AU, not really romance but a whole lot more on trust in each other i guess, yukionna yamada
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-05
Updated: 2015-05-05
Packaged: 2018-03-29 03:56:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3881341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rikotan/pseuds/rikotan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>he wasn't sure if the chill was from the winter air, or the beautiful otherworldly boy who rules over snow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	mnemonic

**Author's Note:**

> for yutoyama's anniversary.
> 
> title is 'mnemonic' by yanaginagi, it is loosely inspired by it because it's on loop while i write.

5.

“Hmm,” A soft voice floated from behind and Yuto felt a chill up his spine. It was different from the chill of the winter air surrounding him. It was … familiar? Turning around might not have been the best idea, as he was met with a boy, skin pale as snow, lips ice blue, dressed in a thin kimono. He was perched on the branch of a tree, and what seemed like the lack of legs was swinging back and forth, hem of the kimono slowly flowing through the cold air.

And Yuto didn’t need anything else to warn him that he wasn’t of this world. “Not much of a change this time round too, I guess.” There was fondness in the boy’s airy voice. It seemed to be coming from everywhere, anywhere, and nowhere. “Years are long, so what’s your name this time?”

He didn’t know what overcame him, but Yuto found himself replying. “Nakajima Yuto.”

“Fate has a weird way of working,” The boy floated gracefully down from his branch, and stopped before the hem of his kimono touched the soft snow on the ground. In close proximity, Yuto forgot to breathe for a moment, marveling at the skin that looked soft and smooth, yet hard and cold all at the same time. “This beauty mark is new.” Eyes were on the mole under Yuto’s left eye, and Yuto had unconsciously moved his hand to touch it.

“A curious person you are, aren’t you even afraid?” The boy’s expression changed to one of questioning, his hand now waving in front of Yuto’s face.

“No.”

It was a simple reply, and Yuto was met with a soft smile with a lingering feeling of bittersweet. “Why? I’m a yokai, you should know that by now.” It was as if the boy was trying to get an answer out of Yuto, and Yuto wonders why himself. It was a weird feeling. “You’re familiar. Have we met before?”

The boy said nothing, only humming in reply.

* * *

4.

A group was approaching, filled with laughter and joy. It made him want to smile as well. Pale white hands made gestures, before moving them to cup his cheeks as he pouted.

“Yuto-san, would you stop taking photos of us?” The woman was smiling brightly, and Yuto was holding a curious device. He was sure someone mentioned that it was called a ‘camera’ a few centuries ago. It had looked different from the one he was shown but it probably works the same.

“Sucking souls out into paper the same, aren’t we?” He had whispered into the chilly winter air. Yuto had looked up for a moment. It was as if he had heard his voice. Tugging a piece of paper out from his kimono, he traced his white fingers across it. The camera from centuries back ‘sucked his soul’ and captured it into this paper.

A chuckle coming from Yuto stopped his train of thoughts. “What are you saying?” Yuto was gesturing for the woman and children to his side, a kiss lightly placed on the woman’s lips. _‘Ah, he has a wife and children.’_

“Pictures capture the moment, so that it wouldn’t be lost.”

* * *

 3.

“Do you intend to end your life?” He was tying a rope on the branch when a voice caused him to stumble back. Hands flew up to his mouth as he stopped himself from screaming. “Y-yokai.”

“Yes, I’m otherworldly. Thank you for pointing out the obvious, Yuto.”

“How do you know my name?” It was a whisper but the boy heard it nonetheless. An eyebrow was raised, a stark contrast of black against his white skin. The question was never answered. “Hanging yourself isn’t the most effective way to take your own life.” The fingers that traced the rope led a trail of ice forming on it. Squatting down or at least what seemed like a squat with inexistent legs, the boy looked at Yuto for a moment, “Why do you want to end your life?”

Cold air envelop Yuto, and he wasn’t sure anymore if it was the winter chill, or from this yokai that was associated to the pure and cruel weather of winter. “I’m not in control of my life.” Yuto started. His story was filled with manipulation of people, how he was manipulated by his parents to go into politics when he really wants to go into arts. The boy just listened and looked at how vulnerable the man sounds. “That is a bad reason to die.”

“I never thought I’d hear a yokai tell me to live.” And almost in an instant, Yuto swore he could hear the boy say ‘you are different’ but it was already gone with the wind. “Go on living a fulfilling human life, Yuto.”

“No. I will die if I can’t do something I like.”

“You should stop being selfish. Go on and live. Give it ten years.” The boy had stood and floated away from Yuto. “After ten years, if you still want to die, come back and find me.”

“I’ll freeze you and give you a quick death. It’s better than suffocating yourself.” A gust of wind blew by, and with the mist, the boy was gone. Yuto was left there, and he notices how the rope was frozen and broken into tiny pieces.

-

All these could’ve been lost if he hung himself here ten years ago. Laying a bouquet of _white lace flower*_ at the same tree he was ten years ago, Yuto smiled. The years have left him with forming wrinkles, and a new wealth of wisdom.

“Thank you, yokai.” He breathed the words out into the air, before he turned and left. It was then, a gentle gust of wind tickled his ear, as he vaguely heard an _‘I told you so’_.

* * *

 2.

With a click of the shutter, Yuto was almost knocked out by a gust of wind _(ice cold, prickling, and dry)._ “Human, what is that device?” The voice was airy, and the scarily pale boy clad in white thin kimono that was floating demanded to know. Raising the device, Yuto almost laughed at how the yokai got ready to duck into cover, a wall of ice already starting to form in front of him.

“It’s a camera.”

“Are you not afraid of me?” The voice was small and quiet, but loud all the same. There was fear, and Yuto thought he should have more fear towards his companion. “No. I think I’m eccentric, and there are things in the world that many don’t know.” The wall of ice collapses, and the boy floated towards him. “What does this device do?”

“It captures things into a paper. People say it sucks souls and keep them in paper though.” A tiny shriek came from the boy as he warily looked at Yuto. “Don’t worry, it doesn’t do that. See,” Yuto pulled a piece of paper from his bag and handed it to the boy. “This is called a ‘photo’. That was how I looked at the exact moment it was taken.”

“Your soul isn’t sucked into the curious device?”

“No. Do you want to have your photo taken?” Before the boy replies, another click of the shutter and a burst of light happened. “I don’t know if this works, but hopefully you’ll see yourself in the photo!”

“Don’t attack me out of a sudden! Did I lose part of my soul?”

“No, you didn’t. You just left a beautiful image.”

-

“Here you go. I didn’t think I would meet you again.” Yuto had handed the boy an envelope. With his pale white hands, the boy gently pulled out the film from within. In monochrome, there he was, a shocked expression, his kimono flowing with the wind as he turned at that moment the photo was captured. “It came out well, you’re really beautiful.”

“That’s wrong. It’s the photo that is beautiful, not me.”

* * *

 1.

“Get away from me!” The scream was hysteric, and the boy had quickly floated away from the screaming teenager. “Monster, you caused the snow storm!”

“N-no, what are you s-!”

“Lies! Get away from me! You killed them all, why don’t you kill me as well?” The teenager’s tears were still running down his cheeks. “Y-yuto, no. I did not-!” The boy was cut off once again by screams of ‘how do you know my name?’ and ‘get lost monster!’

And so, the boy did.

When the rescue team found Yuto, they also noticed how a trail of frozen tear drops _(of millions and millions of tear drops that looked like crystal, so beautiful and heartbreaking)_ led towards the forest.

* * *

 0.

He was lost. The straw around him isn’t enough to keep his body heat, and he can hardly feel his toes. A gust of wind blew, and a boy of his age appeared in front of him, pale and beautiful. “Are you lost?”

“Are you here to bring me to the other side?” Yuto replied with a question. Going to the other side seems like a good option. He wouldn’t have to starve. He wouldn’t have to deal with the cold again. But there was Raiya back at the shack where homeless people cuddle for warmth, and that was the only thing that was anchoring Yuto here.

The mysterious boy shook his head. “You’re really beautiful,” Yuto continued, pale skin signified the wealthy, and that was a stark contrast to Yuto’s sun-kissed skin _(rubbed with dirt and grease to boot)_. “I think the snow did things to your head.”

“Are you floating?” “I’m otherworldly.”

A chill went down Yuto’s spine as he realized the meaning of it. “You are a yokai.” A nod. “So you are really bringing me to the other side,” Yuto concluded. Stories of yokais were spreading through the streets in hushed voice. They were always scary and Raiya couldn’t sleep at night if he heard one. They spread terror through the lands, and traders that encountered them either didn’t live to tell the tale or came back deformed and never the same.

“I’m bringing you out of the forest. You are a good person; I don’t want to hurt someone that is good.”

There was silence between them for a moment, “And don’t you have a brother back in the shack?” Yuto blinked at the boy in front of him. Why did he know about Raiya? “Both of you come to play in the summer. But I’m never out at that time, I watch from the side.” The boy was looking down, his fingers circling each other like a habit out of nervousness.

“What’s your name, yokai? I’m Yuto! My brother’s name is Raiya. Let’s be friends.” Despite the cold, Yuto grinned at the boy. “Do you know how important a name is to a yokai?”

“Uh-huh. Don’t worry, I will never tell anyone. Not even Raiya.”

“Even if I will haunt you for eternity if I told you my name?”

“But that is two-ways! If you are always with me, then I’ll always be with you.” It was the selfishness of a child. It was so pure, so cruel. Yuto couldn’t grasp the amount of time ‘eternity’ represented, and the boy couldn’t explain how scary it was. But then it seemed like it was okay. Yuto seemed like he would always be with him.

“My name is Yamada Ryosuke. If you reveal my name, I will murder every one you are close with.”

“I wouldn’t, Yama-chan.”

“A curious person you are, Yuto.”

* * *

 5.

“We’ve met before, haven’t we?” The boy wasn’t saying anything. “Yama-chan, why aren’t you-” The boy flinched at the nickname, and Yuto blinked. Once. Twice. ‘Yama-chan’. Who is that again?

“Seems like deep down you remember, Yuto.” The boy turned gracefully away, floating away.

“What do you think about eternity, Yuto?”

“A very huge amount of time that couldn’t be calculated?”

“Eternity it is, Yuto. See you again, maybe next life.” And with that, the boy vanished.

**Author's Note:**

> a/n: this fic is inspired when i was re-watching hakkenden in the middle of the night. and for some reason i had this idea. for clarification purpose, the numbers represent the number of reincarnation yuto has gone through. so '0.' was the first time they met, and '5.' is the fifth time yuto went through the reincarnation cycle.
> 
> this is not beta'd but it passed MSWords at the very least.
> 
> comments and kudos are always nice, i hope you've enjoyed this. i'm rusty in writing.
> 
> *white lace flower: in flower language, it means thank you [source](http://www.hana300.com/resufu.html)


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